Seymour survey part of effort to become Tree City

A recent inventory and assessment of Seymour’s trees identified nearly 200 at severe or high risk for disease and targeted them for removal.

But overall, the city’s trees are in fair condition, said a representative from Davey Resource Group, a private environmental consulting firm.

That’s good news and bad for city leaders as Seymour continues its efforts to be designated an official Tree City by the Arbor Day Foundation. That title could help the city when applying for grant money and improve Seymour’s public image, Mayor Craig Luedeman said.

“It gives us a blueprint to move forward and shows us what we need to do when it comes to maintaining our trees,” he said of the inventory.

Aren Flint said that nearly 2,000 trees along with 3,500 available planting sites and 237 stumps were included in the study, which was completed last fall.

“This did not include public sites, like parks, but only those trees along city streets,” she said.

This story appears in the print edition of The Tribune. Subscribers can read the entire story online by signing in here or in our e-Edition by clicking here.